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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The flood in June 2013 presented many challenges for all business units at The City - and Animal & Bylaw Services (ABS) was no exception.

Tara Lowes, manager of Administration and Shelter Operations, and Alvin Murray, manager of North Operations at ABS, look back on how ABS responded, lessons learned and how staff went above and beyond when it mattered most.

At the onset, bylaw officers were deployed to assist the Calgary Police Service (CPS) and the Calgary Fire Department (CFD) in the evacuation of citizens. This included having bylaw officers stationed at muster points to assist in taking care of family pet needs. As the flood progressed, ABS worked closely with CPS to ensure public safety by preventing people entering secured areas.

In the days following, ABS was instrumental in working with The City’s Waste & Recycling Services in coordinating a community cleanup program in the impacted communities. They also heeded the call from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Calgary Economic Development and the Business Revitalization Zone in the downtown to coordinate city departments in assisting businesses to get back up and running.

On the Animal Services side, ABS kept its Animal Services Centre open 24 hours for the first five days. In total, ABS housed 76 animals - 26 dogs, 48 cats and 2 Vietnamese Pot Belly Pigs from the Zoo.